Gathering Griff by Lamp Light
by Vortex-Of-Industry
Summary: Robin finds herself in a farmiliar situation of being held a prisoner. The members of the Mugiwara crew have been scattered, and the plan is to run until everyone is gathered and escape from their captors together, and find out what's going on deep under the earth's surface in a mysterious dugeon stronghold. ZoBin implied.
1. Chapter 1

Nico Robin slowly drifted back into consciousness. The back of her skull stung. It didn't feel like a headache, but more like when you scrape your knee; sort of tender and raw. She didn't bother opening her eyes, not yet. She noted that her hands were cuffed to some sort of metal rod. She had been restrained low to the ground. She was on her knees on a cold floor made of rough cement. Her torso was slouched painfully forward, but she was being held off the ground by the cuffs around her wrists. She didn't quite understand her postition, so she dared to slightly open one of her eyes. She was in a room that was no more than a few feet high, with water pipes running along the top of it, and down the wall her feet rested awkwardly against. She waited and listened for any kind of sound or sign of life, but the only sound she could place was the hum of rushing water in the pipes above her. Her neck felt stiff as her head hung limply. Since her hair hung like a curtain all around her face, she decided it safe to open both her eyes. Robin gently lifted her head forward, ignoring the screams of agony from her stiff neck.

Around her, the room was dim, and the air felt thick as she sucked it in and forced it back out. There didn't seem to be anyone in the cupboard-like room other than herself. Her eyes strained through the darkness to find anything that would give her any sort of clue where she was or what had happened. There was what looked like a sort of wooden trap door in the middle of the dirty floor.

"What a way to treat a lady," Robin mumbled. She straighted her back as she sat herself up, her spine aching and popping as she forced it out of its hunched position. She pulled her legs roughly out from under her so she could sit herself down, rather than be hoisted up on her knees. Once she was sitting cross legged, she leaned back against the pipe she was cuffed to, being careful not to touch her head to it. When she'd sat forward, she had felt a sort of pull on her skull, just above the tape of her neck, and warm blood flowed down her neck to her chest and into her line of vision.

Robin took another look around. A situation like this wasn't uncommon or foreign to her. Since this scenario was something similar to the experiences she had been through since she was young, she didn't at all feel panicked. "And what a way to live," she grinned as she realized any regular person would be quite startled and afraid in this situation, and yet she didn't feel any emotional distress. She smiled at herself into the darkness. What a strange woman.

There was some creaking from below the wooden flap in the floor, and then a gentle knock. Robin braced herself for questioning and all of her senses became electrified. As the door swung open, a torch came trough first, splashing the small room with light, and illuminating a man who only climbed what looked to Robin like a rope ladder until his torso was inside the damp room, since the ceiling was a bit short. Robin reeled her mind for poisonous remarks for all kinds of situations. She had a sharp tongue, and it often confused and angered people around her, but also allowed her to collect unintentionally spilled information.

"Are you Nico Robin?" the man asked. He was a rough man, but young, it seemed. He wore a black hat and the white uniform of the Navy. He held the torch closer to Robin than to himself.

"My name is Nico Robin," she corrected his rough etiquette. "I've seemed to have bumped my head. Have any bandages?"

Suddenly, the man crawled into the room, still making sure the torch was off the ground. "You one of the ones with a devil's fruit ability?" He was inches from her now, then he paused. He looked her over with an intense gaze.

Robin realized this man didn't know anything of her. The fact he seemed to genuinely not recognize her name, nor anything she seemed to be notorious for made Robin grin. Ignorance that she could easily use to her advantage.

"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm afraid I am not. Something like that would've gotten me out of this situation, don't you think?" she flashed a smile at him again before shutting her strange happiness away.

The man grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head up to his eye level. She made a small yelp out of surprise, and the sudden pain from the back of her head startled her. Now being forced to look into this man's face, she saw the flesh of his face was riddled with scars. His eyes were a deep black, much like her own pupils, but had a sense of determination rather than deceit in them. "The Government would like a word, if you would, ma'am," a grin split the man's face, and he brought the torch closer to her face, and singed the ends of her hair. Although her nose filled with the bitter smell of burning hair, she didn't look away from this man.

He tossed her forward as he crawled around to the pipe she was cuffed to, and pulled out a key. Robin wondered silently to herself if these cuffs were regular steel or if they had been made of seastone. She would soon test to see. She heard a click and the pull on her arms loosened. Maybe she wouldnt have to. The man came back around her, tightly grabbed one of her arms, and began to lead her towards the hatch in the floor. "Down," he demanded of her, "Climb down." She rolled her eyes and used her free arm to hold the opening of the hatch before swinging her legs down on the ladder. When the man was sure she was going to decend, he released her arm so she could climb down.

She felt a pair of tough hands wrap around her waist and pull her from the ladder down until her feet hit the floor. Robin raised one of her hands to her eyes to shield them from all the light she was suddenly engulfed in. Squinting, she saw other men around her, looking rough and tough like the one who had come to fetch her. The arms that had pulled her to the floor had withdrawn a little, and callused hands rested on her hips, but with a tight enough grip to keep her from moving. Robin tossed a glance at the owner of these hands, and saw they belonged to a very tall man she had never seen before. He grinned at her, and she looked away to swallow disgust.

"Do you mind if I ask where this is, gentlemen?" Robin asked as the man took a hand away from her hip and pulled her arms back together behind her back again. He released her and used both his hands to tie her wrists with a thick rope, which he was going to hold onto like a leash, which made Robin annoyed.

"A Government stronghold. None of your business where." The man who had come up to get her was now coming down the ladder after passing the torch to one of the men in his group. When he reached the floor, he walked to her left and paused to look at her. Now, Robin glanced down at herself in the light of the gas lamps that hung from a black stone wall over head. She was wearing a light blue shirt and pants, almost like scrubs. Except they were dirty and tattered, and spotted with her own blood around the collar from the wound on her head. There was a long rip down her left side, exposing some of her skin to the cold air of this new corridor they were in.

"You know this woman?" the mans voice asked. Robin didn't understand that he wasn't speaking to her, and looked over at him to give a venoumous remark. However when she looked to him, she saw he was speaking to a tall man that she has come to be very close to.

"Yeah," Zoro huffed back at the man. He had been put into what seemed like the same situation as her. The same blue outfit, and was tied up, but his arms were bound with chains and steel rather than Robin's limp rope leash. "Don't bother with her, she's just a woman," Zoro spit into the man's face. The man growled and looked back at Robin. In that instant, a smirk shot across Zoro's mouth, and his expression warmed for her, so she knew he'd been playing with the man. He motioned down the hallway behind him with his head, and nodded. Robin had already been smiling, as she always seems to be, but she grinned now at him. The man saw her grin and turned quickly to Zoro, who put his stone cold expression on again to look into the man's black eyes. Robin smothered a chuckle from within her. He was a different man than most people outside the crew seemed to think. Not to bright by most means, but still good.

Annoyed, the man grabbed Robin by the arm and pulled her next to Zoro, where he handcuffed them together. "I'm going to lead, and the two of you are going to follow," he mumbled with irritation. He turned to the other men of his group, taking Robin's rope and Zoro's clump of chains in his arms and dismissed the others.

As the rest of the rookie naval officers began to leave, the man up ahead tugged Robin and Zoro forward.

"They're leaving you incharge?" Zoro said loudly to the man leading them as they began to walk after him. Robin looked down to Zoro's feet and saw how slow he was moving, and tried to match his sluggish pace.

"Be quiet, Mugiwara filth," the man growled back without looking at them.

"He isn't friendly," Robin smiled up at Zoro, "I don't think he's having a very good day."

"I'm sure his day is going better than mine," Zoro grumbled, raising an eyebrow, and rattled the chains keeping his arms together.

Robin smiled still. "Do you know what's been going on? I don't remember any of this, to be quite honest. I remember being on the Sunny. I was in the shower, I believe. But until I woke up there-" she motioned to the ceiling with her head, " I don't have any memories of what's happened. Who is this angry man?"

"It was an ambush of sorts," Zoro shrugged, rattling all his chains, causing the naval officer up head to peak behind his shoulder at them. "I remember drinking on the deck, and some ships appeared, and Tashigi was on top of us. Remember Tashigi?" He looked down to her, and was a little surprised she was already looking at him, so he looked back infront of him.

"Yes," Robin replied, also looking back infront of her at the back of the man leading them, "Smoker's assistant? Black hair and red glasses. Great swordsman. Swords-woman? The one who looks like your deceased friend if I'm not mistaken."

"Ah, um... yes that's the one," Zoro shifted awkwardly.

They shuffled forward in silence.

"Is there a plan?" Robin inquired, "I'm bound only by rope so breaking free won't be difficult. Although since we've been handcuffed together it looks like we'd be stuck together for a while. Do you know where Luffy is?"

"No," Zoro replied, thankful for a change of subject, "But really my plan is to find my swords, and then find him, and get out of this place."

"And the others, of course," Robin grinned over at him.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and saw her smile, and a smirk lit his face. "Yes, of course."

"Okay, well then I leave it to you, Zoro-san. I'll go on your signal."


	2. Chapter 2

○○○ Chapter 2 ○○○

"Okay, Robin, go for it whenever," Zoro shrugged. He rattled the chains binding his arms out of irritation, and the man leading them down a dark path paused and looked back at him.

"Be cooperative! Don't struggle! I won't let you escape!" he shouted at them. When they were silent, he looked satisfied, and turned back around and began walking again.

"I wasn't really struggling, dumbass," Zoro grumbled, "I'm pissed, that's all."

Robin smiled and chuckled a little bit. "He seems a bit dim, to be honest," she laughed.

They had walked for a few minutes down the black stone hallway deciding on the best course of action. Together, they had decided to take out the naval officer leading them, the one who had come to fetch them, and search him for keys or clues. As Robin nodded to him, she looked around the hall and across the ceiling. The black stone walls led up to a dark, round ceiling arched with concrete. There was a door every few yards, all of them different from each other; some metal, others wood, and a few made out of different types of stone.

"Well then, let's have a look into some of these rooms," Robin raised her arms into an 'x' formation as well as the rope keeping her wrists bound would allow, her palms facing down. As she was fumbling around, Zoro tried awkwardly to keep his arm that had been cuffed to her from touching the exposed skin of her collar. She didn't seem to notice, so when she had decided she was ready, Zoro awkwardly held his arms as far away from her as the cuffs would allow.

Robin focused on the man leading them, and two tan arms sprouted from each of his shoulders. He noticed them and panicked, but before he could say anything or look back at them, one of the hands got a firm grip on his chin, the other reached across his head and firmly placed itself on his temple. "Clutch!" Robin said, closing her hands into fists. The arms holding the man's head jerked his neck roughly to the right, it popped, he fell limp, and his body fell to the ground. The arms disappeared with a flash of pink blossoms.

Robin smiled up at Zoro and lowered her arms. "After you, Zoro-san," she cooed. He grumbled and began ahead of her, blushing slightly for no reason he could think of.

As Zoro pulled her forward, Robin sprouted two arms from her hips. The hands came together, and began untieing the rope binding her wrists. They reached the man that had been leading them, and Zoro squatted next to him, yanking Robin down with him. He watched as the hands freed Robin's arms, and disappear with a puff of pink blossoms. The ropes fell to the floor and she looked relieved, then looked to Zoro and smiled.

"Okay, now check him," Zoro ordered, sitting himself on the floor next to the corpse.

"Aye aye," Robin teased. She looked through the man's pockets and came up with two keys. "Give me your hands," Robin said, grabbing Zoro's callused hands and pulled them into her lap. She tried the first key on the chains, the lock clicked open, and Zoro's arms were free. He pulled the hand cuffed to her back into himself and out of her lap.

"This key must be for the cuffs keeping us together," Robin said, waving the second key. Zoro reached for it with his free hand, but Robin quickly tucked it under the collar of her shirt.

"So unlock it, then!" Zoro commanded, annoyed.

Robin raised her index finger to her smiling lips. "I'll put it away for safe keeping. What if we split for some reason? If we end up getting separated, I'd never find you; you'd wander these corridors forever!" she laughed. "Let's stick together."

Zoro stood to avoid looking into Robin's dark eyes that made him feel like she could see through his skin.

Robin stood next to him, and they began walking back in the direction they came, when Robin said, "Your lip. What happened?"

Zoro didn't know what she meant, so he raised his hand and ran it along his bottom lip. When he pulled his hand away to look at it, his fingers were tipped with red blood. "Hmm," he wondered. He had no idea what had happened. He had been out when they came and retrieved him, so when he came around, he was already chained up. "I'm not sure." Zoro examined Robin, too. The collar of her light blue shirt was soaked with blood, and there were little cuts along her left eye, and a large bruise beginning to blossom on her forehead. "What about you? You're pretty beat up. All the blood yours?"

They came to a choice, right or left in the hallway. Zoro turned to the left immediately, but Robin tugged him back. "We came from this direction," Robin grinned at him, stepping down the right hallway, "We should go back this way, don't you think?" she asked. Zoro grumbled to himself, but followed Robin's lead.

"Anyway, yes, it is. The blood, I mean," Robin said, stretching away all the stiffness that being hunched forward for a long period of time had left behind. "It hurt a lot more when I first regained consciousness, but now not so-"

Suddenly, a deep rumbled rolled through the stuffy corridor from ahead of them. Dust fell down as the ceiling and walls shook, and both Robin and Zoro froze, tensely listening for anything else.

"What the hell was that?" Zoro growled, annoyed he didn't have a sword with him.

"Hmm, let's go and see," Robin said, her face suddenly filling with curiosity.

They began toward the sound, Zoro following Robin's lead, but staying close to her just in case something were to come about. They walked in silence for awhile. Robin could feel his warmth on her back, because he was walking so closely, and it comforted her a bit. He was so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Hey, Zoro-san, I-" Robin began, looking at him over her shoulder, when the silence was shattered with a deafening explosion, louder than the first, but this time closer. A metal door a few yards ahead of them was thrown off it's hinges, and into the opposite side of the corridor, taking with it most of the stone surrounding it's frame, and completely destroying the wall opposite of it. Acting on instinct, Zoro stepped infront of Robin, his back to the explosion, wrapping his hand around the back of her head, careful not to touch the wound he knew was there, and pulled her into his chest, just as clouds of dirt flooded the air around them. Debris flew at them and pelted all across Zoro's back. He saw it fly past, and put his face into Robin's hair to shield his eye from dust. He felt a sharp object lodge into his lower back, but he clenched his teeth and said nothing.

As the debris stopped falling, they were able to hear shouting voices through the settling dust. They were shouting things that Zoro couldn't understand, when suddenly a familiar voice boomed over the rest.

"Shut up! Who are you people?!" I'll kick your ass!" the voice echoed down the black walls. Another soft rumble shook the walls from the hole were the metal door had been.

Robin laughed into Zoro's chest, but it sounded muffled, so he quickly released her. She had a big smile across her lips, and she looked up into Zoro's face. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he sighed, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

"Luffy!" they said together, Robin's voice full of relief and anticipation, Zoro's more of an exasperated sigh.

A/N: I wanted to say thank you for any kind words! I'm glad you're looking forward to the story! I hope you continue to enjoy as the plot begins to be revealed to you, just as it's revealed to Robin and Zoro! XD

Thank you so much, and again, thank you! ㅇㅅㅇ


	3. Chapter 3

- Chapter 3-

"Luffy!" Robin called to their captain again cheerfully, and began pulling Zoro forward with her by his cuffed wrist.

Luffy looked around at the sound of his name. The hall was still pretty dim, but there was a lot of light that was shining brightly through the hole in the corridor that Luffy had come out from, illuminating a small section of the walls around them. Luffy was hunched forward and holding a guard's collar with one hand and the other arm pulled back ready to punch. He was squinting around looking for where his name had come from. "...Robin?" he asked, then spotted her, and a grin stretched across his face. "Robin!" he tossed the guard in his hand to the rough cement floor and began towards them. "Oh, and Zoro's here, too!"

"Hello, Luffy," Robin smiled, walking forward to meet him. "Are you injured, at all?"

"Hmm, no, I don't think so. I feel really good! Hungry though. Where are we? Did you see all the smoke?" Luffy rattled on with questions and opinions without waiting for a response, like always. "Hey Zoro. Did you guys get caught up together?"

"No, I was brought from my cell and I was being led somewhere when we stopped to pick up Robin from somewhere in the ceiling," Zoro said, "We are cuffed together, though," he raised his arm cuffed to Robin, and she smiled.

"Ah, we'll have to find the key!" Luffy turned down the hallway behind him and put his hands on his hips in thought.

"Well, we-" Zoro began to explain the situation, but Robin gave him a stinging pinch on his side. He took a sharp breath and looked at her with a furrowed brow. She raised her index finger to her lips again to hush him, and gave a quick wink as Luffy continued to talk, almost to himself, not noticing anything.

"Yeah, okay, well, do you know where the others are?" Luffy huffed, looking back around at them.

"No, I'm sorry, captain, but you're the first person we've found," Robin grinned at him. "Zoro-san and I have begun this adventure alone,"

"You can come with us though," Zoro said awkwardly.

Robin and Luffy looked to him with the same expression of a small smile, Robin's exhibiting some happiness to his awkwardness by a certain glint in her dark eyes, and Luffy rather confused and unknowing with a dull stare.

"I mean, let's not split up," Zoro added quickly.

"Yeah, okay," Luffy said blankly. "I want to go back this way!" he turned around again and began walking away from them.

"Ah, Luffy, is it okay if we take a look around the room you had been contained in? I'll look around for clues of sorts," Robin asked, grabbing his shoulder as he began to walk away from them.

"That sounds boring. I've been in there for days! I'm hungry, Robin!" Luffy whined, looking back at her over his shoulder with a pout.

"Days?" Zoro stepped toward him, and Luffy decided to turn around again. "Luffy, how long have you been awake for?"

"Hmm? Awake? Well, I don't know. A few hours I suppose. I went to sleep late last night trying to get out of the ropes and stuff. Although I don't know what time it is..."

"No, that's not what I mean," Zoro looked to Robin, "I was unconscious, and when I came back around, I was only awake for a few hours before they came to get me. I didn't think we'd been here for very long."

"Yes, when I woke up again, it was only a few minutes until I was fetched," Robin agreed.

"Hmmm... Well, I didn't ever pass out, if that's what you mean. It's been a few days I think. Maybe five days? I don't know, Zoro, I don't know what time it is!" he turned toward the hole he'd created in the wall. "Come on, then, Robin."

Zoro gave Robin a confused look. "Five days?" he asked, "That's a lot longer than I expected. I thought I'd only been here for a little while."

"Yes... I hope that the others haven't starved to death," Robin added, following Luffy into the wall.

They walked forward together. Luffy swung himself over the rubble and back into the room where he was being confined, while Zoro went ahead of Robin, clearing her a sort of path, and holding her hand to guide her. She smiled to herself. She could have easily jumper over the large pieces of rubble, or moved them away for all of them, but she decided to not say anything and keep this moment as a memory. She squeezed his hand tight.

"Here, Robin!" Luffy called from the back of the room.

"Wow, that's some pretty heavy chains..." Zoro called back to him, "They kept you tied up here for five days?"

Robin pushed away her thoughts and released Zoro's hand to examine the room. The walls where a smooth glossy black, with gas lamps bolted every few inches, their dim light bouncing off the smooth coat. She looked above her at a rounded ceiling. It was made of the same materials as the walls. Since the room was dome shaped, it almost seemed like someone had carved the entire room out of one large block of stone. Many chandeliers hung pretty low from the high ceiling, just a few feet above Robin's head. When compared to where Robin was locked up, this seemed very comfortable and warm. The thought made her laugh a little.

"Check this out, Robin!" Zoro said to her, pulling her forward by her wrist. While she had been examining the room, Zoro had begun to walk over to Luffy at the back of the room. She nodded and allowed herself to be pulled forward by him.

"This is where I was being kept," Luffy called to her, pointing at the back wall.

"Oh!" Robin stepped ahead of Zoro as they reached Luffy. The wall he was pointing to had hundreds of chains hanging from it. They were mixed in with ropes and blocks of what looked like seastone, and handcuffs. It seemed that it all had been organized and in order once, but after Luffy had broken free, the wall was riddled with cracks and chipped pieces, and everything was hanging randomly and in a messy pile on the floor. "Hmm..." Robin looked back to Luffy. She, for the first time since meeting back up with him, realized that he did look pretty ruined. His vest and sandals were missing, and his shorts were extremely torn and shredded, but his hat stayed intact on his head. The skin on his chest looked like it had been rubbed raw, and blisters and cuts riddled his entire body. His feet and hands were bloody around the ankles, toes, wrists and knuckles. Nonetheless, he grinned up at her. "Luffy? What happened to your shirt?"

"Ah, it's there," Luffy wadded through the chains and ropes and pulled up what looked like a thick leather chest piece. all the ropes were connected to it. A piece of red cloth was sticking out of the bottom. The back of the leather harness was completely destroyed and frayed. "I was in this dumb thing. I busted out, but it ripped my vest all up. It won't even stay on me! So let's just leave it. It's hot here, anyway," he dropped it back onto the floor. "After I got out of it they brought in stuff like seastone and these iron chains," he rattled a handful of them to demonstrate. "But all the struggling around in that leather thing scrapped all the skin off my chest. Look at it, it's all raw!" he poked his collar bone, "Looks like a sunburn, doesn't it! Feels like a sunburn..."

Robin turned and began to walk around the room as Luffy continued seemingly to himself. There were fire pits in all four corners of the room that burned brightly, which filled the room with light, better than the gas lamps. The flickering from the fire from four different directions caused strange patterns to jump and dance across the sleek walls. She began to step towards the way they had came, but Zoro hadn't followed her, so she was jerked back by her wrist. She turned to him. "Come, Zoro-san. Let's look?"

"Wait, did you hear what he said, Robin?" Zoro pulled her back to them by the handcuff. She hoped he wouldn't drag her around and make her regret choosing to stay connected with him. Maybe he wasn't thinking about it.

"Mmm... about his chest? Yes, you can't really even tell where the scar is anymore," she nodded, moving closer and examining Luffy's burn, but being careful not to touch it and cause him pain.

"Oh, yeah!" Luffy smiled, and slapped his hand into the middle of his chest, "You can't, can you? Cool! Like it was rubbed off!"

"No!" Zoro said, clearly irritated. "I meant about the smoke. She obviously wasn't listening so say it again, Luffy." he snapped.

"Oh, yeah, all the smoke," he wrinkled up his face in thought. "The other day this guy came in to feed me or something. I got gross food. Wasn't good," he brought a hand to his chin. Zoro gave him a stern look and he moved on with the story. "That metal door I kicked through, yeah he came in that way. He opened it really quick and came in, then shut it fast again, but when he came in he was coughing and a big puff of smoke came through with him. Then after he dropped off the food he left, but for the rest of the day- or night, whatever- smoke was just kind of coming in from the ceiling, and from the crack under the door. I thought maybe something broke, or something was on fire, but it didn't smell fire-y. Smelled like uh... Sanji!"

Zoro and Robin looked at each other. Robin chuckled and Zoro rubbed his eyes. Robin knew he was the captain, but often times, talking to Luffy and trying to get information was like talking with a small child. It really amused her, and she enjoyed talking with him. His mental patterns interested her.

"Okay, what does Sanji-kun smell like to you, Luffy?" Robin inquired.

"You know, like smoke!" he insisted.

They were quiet for a second.

"Smoke," he said again, this time uncertain.

"Oh, Luffy, you mean like tobacco smoke," Robin realized, "Not the kind of smoke from burning wood."

"Yeah! Like cigarettes!" he agreed. It seemed to have just come to him.

"Hmm, isn't that strange, Robin?" Zoro asked.

"A little... I highly doubt it was Sanji-kun though, Luffy," she smiled at him. Then her face turned cold, "Unless something horrible was done to him. It might be possible that-"

"Well let's go look," Luffy began to march towards the gaping hole he'd created in the wall.

"Ah, wait, Robin," Zoro pulled her back by the cuff on her wrist when she started to follow him. "Shouldn't we undo the cuffs now?"

She looked back at him. "Why? Do you dislike it? They aren't hurting you, right?"

"Well," he looked uncomfortably around the room, then stopped on Luffy. "I really don't want to lose him in here. We've found the best person we could first; we're lucky. I want to keep easy tabs on him. It'd be easier if we weren't together," he focused back on her, with a serious expression. She looked into his eye with her own eyes that she knew intimidated him, but he didn't seem to be squirming. "He's the captain. I have to protect _him_ at all costs."

Robin wasn't surprised by these words. However, his emphasis on Luffy's importance over hers made her annoyed. "Okay, Zoro-san," she pulled the key from her shirt and swiftly stuck it into the lock. She noticed it hadn't gone in all the way, so she pushed again, but it just clinked. "Hmm?" she twisted her hand, but the key wouldn't turn. The realization came to her, and she suffocated a chuckle, knowing he would be upset if she laughed. "Zoro-san..." she couldn't help but smile though, ", this key doesn't go to these handcuffs."

"What?" Zoro asked, ripping the key from her hand and trying the lock himself. It still wouldn't go in and unlock. "What?" he said again, this time his voice more irritated. He pressed the key to the lock and shook the arm in the cuff roughly, shaking Robin around a little.

"Easy, swordsman," she smiled, taking the key away from him, and he stopped thrashing. She tucked it happily back into her shirt. "Let's continue?" she asked, grinning up at him.

"What the hell!" Zoro yelled as Robin began to lead him after Luffy, who's voice could be heard from down the hallway, something about his missing sandals and an old man who had taken them upon their capture. "Why the hell did that guy not have a key to these?" Zoro whined angrily behind her. "Where did the key for it go? And what the hell does the key we have do?"

"We'll see, I suppose!" Robin smiled warmly back at him, and he looked away, his face a light shade of pink. He mumbled something Robin didn't catch. She stepped around the rubble herself this time, almost too quickly for Zoro to keep up, because he slipped more than once. "Wait, Luffy! Come look at what we have!" Robin yelled down to him. She could see him in the far off distance, but she saw his head snap quickly around to look at her.

"WHAT 'CHA GOT, ROBIN?" he screamed, his voice rumbling down the walls. He held forward one of his hands, and Robin noticed he was stretching it quickly towards her. She held up the key just as his hand reached her, and it closed around the key, and with a rubbery snap, began to fly back to meet him.

She began to walk forward again as he got his hand back to him and was examining the mystery key.

"What's this key to?" Luffy asked when they caught up with him.

"I don't know, Luffy. It was on our guard when Zoro-san and I broke free," she motioned towards Luffy, "You can hold it, if you want to. Keep track of it, and we'll try it on different things."

"Okay!" he happily tucked it into his hat. "Let's go!" he said happily. He looked over them both and was just now noticing all their cuts and scrapes and blood. His smile fell. "Whoa, Robin, is that your blood? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine now, Luffy."

He nodded to her. He looked over Zoro. "Zoro your side. Is that okay, too?"

"Hmm? My side?" he asked gruffly. He raised his hands and looked down at his sides. He noticed his right side was soaked in blood starting a few inches from his arm pit. "Oh?" he thought for a moment. "Oh," he said again as a confirmation, remembering jumping in front of Robin to protect her from the wall Luffy had destroyed. "Yeah, it's a piece of stone or metal or something. I remember getting it lodged there when you busted the wall. I was um..." his face got warm again, "keeping Robin safe."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Zoro!" Luffy smiled again. "So it's okay?"

"I guess," he shrugged. He could feel Robin's eyes on him and he began to feel squeamish. He didn't understand why her dark eyes made him feel so uncertain. He was also pretty sure she knew it made him squirm and gave him looks on purpose. What a strange woman.

"Okay, let's go!" Luffy began to march down the way opposite of where Zoro and Robin had come from.

"Ah, wait, Luffy. I have an idea," Robin grabbed his hand and pulled him back. "Would you like to know? I think we might be able to get another member of our crew back this way."

* * *

A/N: Ah, I'm sorry this chapter is very late! It was Christmas, and I had gotten very sick! But now that I'm feeling better I've gotten up to writing this chapter! Haha, I really love Luffy, so I wanted to bring him back first~ He's my favorite character, I can't help it!

Thank you again for all the kind things said to me~ I appreciate your anticipation!


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